Cat 5 cable and mains cable.

Sgt_Pepper_2

I know the rules say they shouldn't be run together in parallel and in closeproximity. Would they be ok inside a void containing the soil stack from the ground to first floor?

S0litaire

It should be ok!

Make sure you get good quality shielded or armoured Cat 5 cable or drop it in some trunking to make sure it's separate form the mains cable.

You'll get some signal noise from the mains but if it's a short enough run it might not be that much of an issue!

Bigger issue is making sure the mains and network cables are isolated from each other power wise!

Lum

How long is the run and do you intend to run 100mbps or gigabit?

Also, why are you doing a new cable run with Cat5 and not Cat6 or Cat6a?

Sgt_Pepper_2

10 metres approx, does cat6 have the same issues next to mains cable?

Lum

They all have the same issues, but cat6 and 6a are a higher quality cable so you're more likely to get away with it.

The main reason I was asking why you're doing a new install using cat5 is that the price is pretty much the same for both and cat6 is more future proof.

If the reason is that you already own a drum of cat5 then go right ahead

If you're intending to use 100mbps ethernet then you will probably be fine. If you are intending to run gigabit you should also be fine, but might get a higher error rate than if you didn't run it next to mains cable.

FWIW my cable run goes alongside a mains cable for a couple of meters before separating out in the loft. It works fine for me on gigabit, however I am using cat6.

Sgt_Pepper_2

About 2 1/2 metres will be run next to the twin and earth.

Lum

Well I'm getting away with it using cat6 and gigabit.

If you're using cat5 and 100mbps you'll probably be fine. If this is just to connect your computers up to your broadband router you don't need gigabit anyway.

Sgt_Pepper_2

Would conduit help if I could drop some down and upgraded to cat6?

Lum

For the run you're doing I probably wouldn't bother with conduit or anything like that, and I'd only upgrade to cat6 if I hadn't purchased the cable yet since the price difference is negligible.

Sure if I was doing that run in work I'd probably get told off for doing it like that, but it'll be fine.